Adam M. L. Tice

The Hymn Society in the US and Canada has just issued a new collection of "songs of hospitality to refugees and immigrants." Take a look and make good use of the resources therein--including several of mine! http://www.thehymnsociety.org/singingwelcome

Here's a new text reflecting on the news of late. I imagine singing it to HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN, which would require going back to stanza one at the end to get the ABABA form. But it could be combined with any number of familiar CM tunes, such as NEW BRITAIN (Amazing Grace) or McKEE. Use it freely through February, 2017; report use if you have a onelicense.net account. (You will need to manually enter it.) Has Jesus stood in front of me, unseen before my eyes? He comes, a weary refugee, and calls through strangers’ cries. Has Jesus met me in the street in someone I found strange— in one who seeks a bite to eat, or asks for extra change? Has Jesus knocked upon my door and sought a place to stay? If I refuse to bless the poor, will God turn me away? Will Jesus find us puffed with pride, or humble, last, and least? He calls all hungry souls inside to share in God’s great feast. CM Adam M. L. Tice, January 31, 2017; ©2017 GIA Publicatio...

Here is a hymn for this Christmas season. If you download the graphic, it should be large enough to reproduce well.   The morning after Jesus’ birth no angels hovered near the earth; the shepherds left to tend their sheep and Bethlehem awoke from sleep. The world was changed when Jesus came, and yet, too much remains the same as evil seems to keep its hold, despite what prophet songs foretold. We sing the angels’ song of peace and wait for rage and war to cease. And wait, with faith the world finds odd, to greet the promised reign of God. That reign is here, but upside-down, for Jesus claimed no earthly crown and shunned the use of hate and might to turn the world from wrong to right. At times that reign is hard to see, and not where we would have it be. It grows among the poor and weak in places most refuse to seek. As seeds take root in barren ground so can the reign of God be found, for Love has come and blossoms sti...

Reformed Worship has published a series of columns by Dr. David Music on hymn writers and composers. My work was featured in the December 2015 issue, which is now available online.  It is an insightful and detailed analysis.  Read it here: http://www.reformedworship.org/article/december-2015/echo-voice-god

Ok, I'm pretty biased because there are more than a few of my texts included... 25, to be exact... But Sally Ann Morris' new tune collection is spectacular. Her setting of Mary Louise Bringle's text "You Search Me and Know Me, O My God" alone is worth the cost of the book. I love that Sally finds a "voice" for each writer she works with. (For my texts she leans towards jazz.) That means there is substantial stylistic variety in the collection. Some future musicologist should compare how she sets her various writers' work. Many of the tunes for my work have been previously published in my last few collections; however, there are still several new discoveries to enjoy; newly written tunes for my older texts, and one text never before published. Head over to GIA to order your copy . See also Sally's previous two books: To Sing the Artists' Praise , and Giving Thanks in Prayer and Song . Sally and I also collaborated on a recording: Walk...

Permission is granted for free use of this hymn during October, 2017. Here is a new text, along with two possible tunes. Click on the tune images for full-sized versions.  This hymn may be freely used through July 31, 2016. Let speeches fall silent and platitudes cease from hawkers of violence they brand as “peace.” Let people who suffer find places to speak, and holders of power give way to the weak. Let teachers of hatred, suspicion, and fear, and those who would kill for the views they hold dear, be turned from their ways and disarmed of their wrath to walk on a new, more compassionate path. Forgive us the times we neglected to act; forgive our excuses for courage we lacked. God, teach us the wisdom that leads us to grace: your image is found in our enemy’s face. Adam M. L. Tice, June 15, 2016 ©2016 GIA Publications, Inc.

This is really long and full of all kinds of scratch-the-surface stuff squeezed into a TED-talks style format. It is a presentation I shared at Bethany Theological Seminary's In Tune conference in April. I was asked to introduce my work and to talk about being a hymn writer. (My presentation followed one from a "contemporary praise and worship" musician/pastor, and so much of what I said is about blurring genre lines and finding synthesis.) If you only have time for one piece, jump to 49:35 for "The Mountain of God" with Sally Morris' awesome tune TO THE BRINK. I wish the recording picked up more of the congregation--they really rocked!

The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada is hosting "Writing the Church's Song" in September.  The announcement is below. I'm thrilled to be working with Sally Morris and David Bailey to promote good craft in congregational song. Save the Date!  We will offer a workshop retreat for poets and composers of all styles of congregational song in September, 2016.  Outstanding faculty will guide participants, providing insights from their own writing process and offering feedback.  There will be time for small group interaction and ample time for individuals to work on their own projects.  The workshop will be held at Richmond Hill, an ecumenical community in the heart of Richmond, Virginia.  Full schedule and registration will be available online April 1 Space is limited so sign up early!! Schedule Overview Monday, Sept 26 :  check in after 4 pm and join the community for prayer and dinner Tuesday Sept 27 through Thursday Sept 29 :...

I had a delightful time at the Calvin Symposium on Worship. It was an international, intercultural, and interdenominational feast. The music was exhilarating and sometimes challenging--and often a bit loud! I was privileged to be a resource for a songwriter's retreat along with Greg Scheer and Sandra McCracken. When I saw the stack of submissions from retreat participants, I knew that this would be a learning experience for me. All but a handful of the songs were written in a decidedly "contemporary" idiom. (I use quotation marks because everything, when it is written, is by definition "contemporary." I'm using the term here to describe what's often known as "Contemporary Christian Music," or CCM--typically guitar-driven songs, often with through-composed, non-strophic lyrics.) What would I, as a writer of hymn texts, contribute to the conversation? Greg and Sandra are far more knowledgeable about that world, and I loved hearing their wisdom...

I'm excited to head up to Grand Rapids next week!  Here are a few more details on what I'll be doing. On Thursday Sandra McCraken and I will lead a retreat for hymn/text/tune/song writers/composers, moderated by Greg Scheer . I'm excited to explore our varied approaches to our crafts. (By the way, I'm pondering an upcoming post on Stephen Sondheim's Finishing the Hat and Look, I Made A Hat as instruction books for good hymn writing.) Thursday and Friday at 4:15 one of the vesper service options is The Good News for the Hurting: A Service of Scripture and Song  Michael Burkhardt , the Choral Scholars , and Zebulon Highben , featuring texts by Adam Tice   The conference program describes it this way: "Led by choir and organ, this service of scripture and song surrounds a few Isaiah texts, bringing good news for a hurting world." Beyond that, I haven't heard anything about what is planned--I can't wait to see what they've included. And yo...

2017 update: Here's Tony Alonso's recording of his arrangement: https://www.facebook.com/antonioalonso/videos/10154988084220811/ I've been amazed and humbled by how quickly "A Weary Couple" has spread. A number of people have raised good questions about where the text ended. The conclusion was, admittedly, rather dark and difficult. Several folks suggested adding a stanza to provide some relief or hope. I have resisted that urge for several reasons. Most importantly, I did not want to diminish the validity of the suffering addressed in stanza two by offering too easy of a resolution immediately afterwards. My sense was that the questions should instead be answered by a bit of space, probably some silence, and further response in the form of another song or prayer. (Another reason to resist adding a third verse was mostly practical: LONDONDERRY AIR is really long, and could get tedious with that many repetitions!) A note from composer Clay Zambo provided me with...

 Here's a new Christmas hymn inspired by current events.  It might be most effectively sung by a soloist. A weary couple lodged within a stable, the only space where they could spend the night. Were other trav'lers happy to be able to keep her labor out of mind and sight? But choirs of angels heard the mother's weeping, and heaven rang with songs of peace on earth. They went unheard by those in comfort sleeping, for Jesus came among the outcasts at his birth. An angel came to Joseph in his dreaming and warned him so his family could flee. As they escaped king Herod's evil scheming, the son of God became a refugee. How many children die without such warning? How many mothers will not be consoled, their voices choked with anger, tears, and mourning, for songs unsung and stories never to be told? Suggested tune: LONDONDERRY AIR (Oh, Danny Boy) Adam M. L. Tice, November 19, 2015 ©GIA Publications, Inc. Permission is granted f...

I'm looking forward to my first Calvin Symposium on Worship, January 28-30.  You can see what I'm doing below; visit http://worship.calvin.edu/symposium/ for more information . If you have any suggestions of songs for my Friday workshop, please see my last post and leave a comment. Thursday 10:15-3:30, Retreat: A New Song, A Skillful Song Sandra McCracken and Adam Tice, moderated by Greg Scheer Those of us who feel Psalm 33's call to write new songs must remember that the Psalm also tells us to play skillfully. In this seminar we will focus on the skills of songwriting for congregations, digging into what it means to balance inspiration and perspiration. Join critically-acclaimed singer-songwriter Sandra McCracken and widely-published hymn writer Adam Tice as they speak with Greg Scheer about their approaches to creating new texts, new tunes, and the combining of texts and tunes. The afternoon will be spent discussing participants' song submissions. Att...

In January I will be doing a workshop at the Calvin Symposium on Christian Worship on newer congregational song drawn from Isaiah. I'd like to crowd-source material to present. Please leave suggestions in the comments below. I would especially welcome international selections, and songs in a stylistically contemporary idiom.  Extra points for pieces that are NOT Advent related (although those are welcome as well.) I'll update this list as ideas come in.  Here are a few I already have in mind: We Wait the Peaceful Kingdom (Kathleen Moore) Isaiah 11:6-9 Heaven Opened to Isaiah (Rawandan, paraphrased and arr. Greg Scheer) Isaiah 6:1-3 Upon God's Holy Mountainside (Tice/Morris) The People Who Walked in Darkness (Mary Louise Bringle/Sally Ann Morris) Isaiah 9 Dream On, Dream On (Hae Jong Kim/Sunkyung Lee) Isaiah 11, Isaiah 40 Speak a Word to Us, Isaiah (John Thornburg) From Darkness I Will Lead Them (Joanne Reynolds)

Here are some interesting recent posts on blogs I follow. Check them out! CWS noted some recent major hymological anniversaries. His post on John Newton (writer of "Amazing Grace") includes a lesser-known text with an analogy involving a compass. Quite a natural image for a former sea-farer.  CWS also wrote on Fanny Crosby's "God of our Strength," which he discovered in Hymnal: A Worship Book. An a third excellent recent post: Isaac Watts , grand-daddy of English hymnody. "Ask Her About Hymns" has a write-up on the recent Hymn Society annual conference in New Orleans. Take a look through her older posts as well. She reports on a fascinating theory about "When the Saints Go Marching In." If you are involved in selecting music for worship, make regular visits to Singing from the Lectionary . The Australian writer draws from a wide variety of sources in creative ways. Finally, a few posts about my own work: "Hymn Notes" w...

I wrote "God, Give Me Faith Like a Child" in 2012, shortly after moving back to Indiana. I was impressed by my then-toddler's ability to adapt to our new life, even as I struggled to figure out what to do with myself. Sally Morris provided me with the plaintive tune just a few days later. This might be the simplest track on Walk in Peace ; it is certainly one of my favorites. The vocalist is the amazing Pax Ressler and the guitarist is Matthias Stegmann , who also engineered most of the album. Rather than recording the guitar and vocalist separately (as would normally be the approach), we recorded them simultaneously. Giving the musicians some room for give-and-take makes for a beautiful track. The text and tune can be found in Stars Like Grace , in the Walk in Peace collection, or as an octavo (with another piece from the CD, "When You Wonder, When You Wander."

There's an old dresser in the guest room of our house. To an untrained eye, it looks "nice," perhaps "pretty" in an antique sort of way, and certainly functional. Look closely and you'll notice artful stenciling on the front that says, "John Kinsinger" and "1876." (Look even more closely and you'll notice that the "s" in Kinsinger is backwards.) John Kinsinger was my great-great-grandfather. The dresser was made for his 18th birthday by his grandfather, Jacob Knagy. Jacob, my great-great-great-great-grandfather, lived from 1796 to 1883, so he was around 80 when he built this piece. He was a prolific furniture maker, and his work is now considered quite collectable . Beyond its functionality and basic visual appeal, people who know anything about wood-working get very excited about the dresser. They pull open the drawers and marvel at the hand-carved dovetails, which line up perfectly. They touch the wood and comment...

I was delighted to spend Tuesday at the National Association of Pastoral Musicians annual convention in Grand Rapids. It was a wonderful day of connecting with a number of my collaborators, several of whom I met for the first time. (One of the odd things about hymn writing is that sometimes producing a piece together can happen without any direct interaction!) One of these previously un-met composers is Norah Duncan IV: Norah is best-known in Mennonite circles for the "Duncan Alleluia," which was popularized by John Bell and the Iona community, and is included in our Sing the Journey hymnal supplement. Several years ago Norah provided my text "Christ the Victorious" with an energetic choral setting in an African-American gospel style. (The "listen preview" here provides a rather buttoned-down rendition.) He tells me that the premier performance went on for 26 minutes! When I conducted it at Hyattsville Mennonite it only took four. It has also been tr...

Here's a new piece composed by Tony Alonso. Tony provided me with the refrain, with text derived from one of the options for dismissal words in the recently-revised Roman Missal. He had most of the tune written as well, and made just a few tweaks after I filled in the text. He had been asked to provide a piece celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Religious Sisters of Charity, founded by Mother Mary Aikenhead. (So naturally he asked a Mennonite to collaborate on the text!) My text is inspired by some of the core concerns of the Sisters. A condensed version (without choral parts and the bridge) is printed in Claim the Mystery . Choral edition Recording (track 13)

Welcome to my new site.  I will post occasional updates here. Please see the above links for full information about me, upcoming events, and publications. The latest big news is the release of Claim the Mystery: 50 More Hymn Texts . It is my fourth collection published by GIA.